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In the 21st century, computers are developing faster and faster. Human-computer interaction(HCL) is defined as a multidisciplinary field of study which focuses on the interaction between humans and computer technology. The advancement of HCL makes a great contribution to nowadays’ society as human beings gradually perceive themselves in a technological world that is in a time of high-speed development.The situation of human-computer interaction is becoming more and more common, and computers have more and more intelligent factors. The latest computer technology has been applied to various disciplines, which have developed rapidly and achieved remarkable research results. In this paper, we summarizes the core technologies involved in human-computer interaction (HCI), mainly including human-computer interaction psychology, flexible screen technology, target recognition and classification, and expounds the current situation and development trend of these technologies.

Background: Obesity is one of the leading risks for death worldwide due to numerous comorbidity diseases. One of the primary causes for obesity and related metabolic disorders is related to the western-style (high-fat high-sucrose) diet (HFHSD). Animals fed a HFHSD developed glucose intolerance, dyslipidemia, and liver, heart, kidney, and skeletal muscle damages. However, whether their damages are related to the same mechanism remains unclear. Additionally, whether HFHSD could induce brain and skin damages is still unknown. As adaptor protein p66Shc plays a crucial role in oxidative stress, which plays a pivotal role in the development and progression of multiple diseases, therefore, we assessed p66shc signaling and oxidative stress in multiple organs (brain, heart, liver, kidney, skeletal muscle, and skin) of the mice subjected to metabolic challenges—sustained consumption of a HFHSD. Methods: 20 three-week-old male C57BL/6 mice were fed a normal chow diet (CD) or a HFHSD (mixture of 53% basic feed, 37% sucrose, 10% lard) for 18 weeks. After overnight fasting, the body weight, abdominal circumference, and body mass index (BMI) were measured. Whole blood was collected and centrifuged to separate the serum. The serum glucose and insulin level were measured using the immobilized glucose oxidase method and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The insulin resistance was evaluated by the homeostasis model assessment. Serum total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TGs), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and leptin were determined enzymatically using commercially available kits. The brain, heart, liver, kidney, skeletal muscle, and skin were collected to determine p66Shc mRNA expression, p66Shc phosphorylation, H2O2, and lipid peroxidation marker malondialdehyde (MDA) using real-time quantitative PCR, Immunoblotting, H2O2 and MDA Assay Kits, respectively. Results: 18-week HFHSD increased mouse body weight, abdominal circumference, BMI, fasting blood glucose levels, fasting insulin levels, insulin resistance, TC, TGs, LDL, HDL, and leptin by 1.6, 1.3, 1.2, 1.6, 3.1, 4.1, 2.6, 3.6, 2.4, 2.0, and 1.4 times, respectively, indicating that 18-week HFHSD causes mouse hyperinsulinemia. Interestingly, p66Shc mRNA expression, p66Shc phosphorylation were significantly increased in heart, liver, kidney, and skeletal muscle from mice fed a HFHSD, accompanied by increased H2O2 and MDA levels. p66Shc mRNA expression and p66Shc phosphorylation in brain and skin of mice fed a HFHSD, however, were not different from those in mice fed a ND. Surprisingly, H2O2 and MDA levels in those tissues also showed no differences between the mice fed a HFHSD and a ND. Conclusion: Our results support that western style diet-induced lipid peroxidation in multiple organs is closely associated with upregulation of p66shc signaling. Pharmacological suppression of p66shc signaling could potentially prevent HFHSD-induced organ oxidative damage. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Zhan Lu,1,2,* Yiyue Huang,1,2,* Juntao Huang,1,2,* Hang-Hang Ni,1,2 Tai Luo,1 Xingyu Wei,1 Xue Bai,1 Lunnan Qi,1– 3 Bangde Xiang1– 3 1Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital, Nanning, People’s Republic of China; 2Key Laboratory of Early Prevention and Treatment for Regional High-Frequency Tumors, Ministry of Education, Nanning, People’s Republic of China; 3Guangxi Liver Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Engineering and Technology Research Center, Nanning, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Bangde Xiang; Lunnan Qi, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital, 71# Hedi Road, Qingxiu District, Nanning, Guangxi, 530021, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-7715301253 ; +86-135-1788-6990, Email xiangbangde@gxmu.edu.cn; qilunan_gxmu@163.com; wangzhennuo@aliyun.comPurpose: Recent studies indicated the vital role of platelet in enhancing the survival of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the blood, thereby stimulating the metastasis of tumors. CTCs have been considered an indicator of early tumor recurrence. Therefore, this study evaluated the prognostic potential of platelet count in predicting the early recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in the presence of CTCs.Patients and Methods: 127 patients, whose preoperative CTCs were detected, were enrolled in this study. Univariate analysis was performed to identify the significant association of factors with the early recurrence of HCC, followed by multivariate analysis to determine the independent prognostic indicators. The prediction potential was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves.Results: A total of 81 (63.7%) patients showed early HCC recurrence. The platelet count ≥ 225× 109/L (hazard ratio, HR: 1.679, P = 0.041), CTCs > 5/5 mL (HR: 2.467, P = 0.001), and presence of microvascular invasion (MVI) (HR: 2.580, P = 0.002) were independent factors correlated with the early recurrence of HCC in multivariate analysis. The prognostic potential of the combined CTCs-platelet count (0.738) was better than that of CTCs (0.703) and platelet (0.604) alone. The subgroup analysis, excluding 23 patients with pathological cirrhosis and splenomegaly, showed that the platelet count ≥ 225× 109/L and CTCs > 5/5 mL were also independent factors of early HCC recurrence. The prediction potential of the combined CTCs-platelet count was 0.753, which was better than that of the whole cohort. Kaplan–Meier survival curve analysis indicated that the HCC patients with high platelet or CTCs had the worse recurrence-free survival (RFS).Conclusion: The high platelet count was an independent factor of early HCC recurrence in the presence of CTCs. The combination of preoperative CTCs and platelet count could effectively predict the early recurrence of HCC. The subgroup analysis also showed similar results.Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, liver resection, early recurrence, platelet count, circulating tumor cells

An effective assessment of soil erosion and redistribution is a prerequisite for soil erosion control and is critical to achieving sustainable development goals. The most typical landscape in the karst region of Southwest China is found in the peak-cluster depression area, but little attention has been given to the soil redistribution here. A typical karst peak-cluster depression catchment water area in Southwest China was selected, and

Scutellaria barbata (S. barbata), a traditional herbal medicine used in southern China, possesses anti-inflammatory, antitumor, spasmolytic and expectorant effects. However, there are not many recent studies on its gastrointestinal effects. This study aimed to evaluate the antidiarrheal effect of the ethanol extract of S. barbata (SBE) and its effect on the isolated jejunum smooth muscle.The antidiarrheal effect of SBE (doses: 125, 250 and 500 mg/kg) on castor oil-induced diarrhea was investigated in vivo. The effect of SBE (0.01-10 mg/mL) on spontaneous or acetylcholine chloride (ACh, 10μM)/KCl (60mM)-induced contraction of isolated rabbit jejunum smooth muscle was examined in vitro. The possible spasmolytic mechanism of SBE (1 and 3mg/mL) was analyzed by accumulating CaClSBE (125, 250 and 500mg/kg) could delay the initial semi-solid onset time of mice and also reduce the diarrhea index in vivo. Furthermore, SBE (0.01-10mg/mL) could alleviate the spontaneous or ACh/KCl-induced contraction in vitro. SBE (1 and 3mg/mL) also inhibited the contraction induced by CaClSBE exerts antidiarrheal and spasmolytic effects, which provides a pharmacological basis for its use in functional gastrointestinal disorders.

Critical drawback of poor stiffness in traditional auxetic materials limits them to be applied where negative Poisson’s ratio behavior and excellent load-bearing capacity are simultaneously desired. In this work, a general prescription for designing auxetic lattice structures with high stiffness and controllable isotropic/anisotropic elastic properties is proposed. Based on it, we rationally design a class of novel auxetic lattice structures whose deformation is mainly governed by the stretching mechanisms and conducted an investigation on a tree-like re-entrant structure. A combination of theoretical predictions, numerical simulations and tensile test experiments have been carried out to gain a comprehensive understanding of the structural in-plane elastic mechanical properties along both the principal axes as well as in the off-axis directions. Besides, theoretical model for designing tree-like re-entrant structure with isotropic elastic properties is established and experimentally verified with specimens fabricated with CFRP composite. The results of this research has proven the tree-like re-entrant structure exhibits excellent effective Young’s modulus, shear modulus and obvious negative Poisson’s ratio effect along omni-direction. Investigation on the directional dependence of structural effective elastic properties has further indicated the proposed structure presents a great potential for designing auxetic material with controllable anisotropic elastic properties. In particular, the proposed structure is capable in achieving isotropic design with any negative Poisson’s ratio between −1 and 0. The design philosophy presented in this paper provides a general prescription for solving the challenge of poor stiffness in traditional auxetic materials and paves a new way for isotropic auxetic design.

Activated astrocytes play a key role in diabetic neuropathic pain and depression. We aimed to assess the protective effects of dihydromyricetin (DHM) on primary hippocampal astrocytes cultured with high glucose (HG), substance P (SP), and corticosterone (CORT). Culturing with HG + SP + CORT resulted in damage to primary hippocampal astrocytes, which simulates the clinical damage caused by comorbidity of diabetic neuropathic pain and depression. Western blot, qPCR, and immunofluorescence analyses revealed that HG + SP + CORT increased P2X(7) receptor expression in primary hippocampal astrocytes, which was reversed by DHM treatment. Further, HG + SP + CORT elevated TNF-α, IL-1β, free Ca(2+), and ERK1/2 phosphorylation levels, which was inhibited by DHM or P2X(7) shRNA treatment. Moreover, DHM significantly reduced the P2X(7) agonist-activated currents in HEK293 cells transfected with the P2X(7) receptor. These findings suggest that DHM can protect primary hippocampal astrocytes cultured with HG + SP + CORT from P2X(7) receptor-mediated damage. Culturing cells with HG + SP + CORT might be a viable cell model for cellular injury exploration of diabetic comorbid pain and depression.

In sandwich structures, lightweight cellular materials as the core hold the face sheets far away from the neutral axis to maximize the bending performance of the structure. Honeycomb materials as a major type of lightweight cellular materials have been widely applied in various fields, including aerospace, vehicle, marine, architecture and mechanical engineering, due to reliable mechanical properties and excellent designability. Using fiber-reinforced composites is an efficient method to develop ultralight honeycomb materials with superior mechanical behaviors. In recent years, fiber-reinforced composite honeycomb materials possessing lightweight and excellent mechanical performances have attracted noticeable attention to replacing traditional aluminum honeycombs and Nomex honeycombs. Compared to metal, polymer and Nomex paper, fiber-reinforced composites possess various merits, such as high specific stiffness and specific strength, excellent fatigue property, corrosion resistance and high-temperature resistance. Thus, the applications of fiber-reinforced honeycomb material for sandwich core have unlimited potential in hypersonic vehicles, long-range rockets, cargo vessels and protective systems. Although the fact that attention has been rapidly increasing, there is a lack of comprehensive reviews of new advances in the field of fiber-reinforced composite honeycomb materials. In this review, new advances reported by different scientists in the field of fiber-reinforced honeycomb materials have been reviewed and analyzed to provide an in-depth overview and knowledge for beginners in the field of ultra-lightweight and high-performance composite sandwich architectures. The challenges and prospects for the development of fiber-reinforced honeycomb materials have also been presented.

Patients with diabetic neuropathic pain (DNP) experience immense physical and mental suffering, which is comorbid with other mental disorders, including major depressive disorder (MDD). P2X4 receptor, one of the purinergic receptors, is a significant mediator of DNP and MDD. The present study aimed to identify the roles and mechanisms of MSTRG.81401, a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), in alleviating DNP and MDD-like behaviors in type 2 diabetic rats. After administration with MSTRG.81401 short hairpin RNA (shRNA), the model + MSTRG.81401 shRNA group demonstrated increased mechanical withdrawal threshold, thermal withdrawal latency, open-field test, and sucrose preference test; however, immobility time on the forced swimming test decreased. MSTRG.81401 shRNA administration significantly decreased the expression of the P2X4 receptor, tumor necrosis factor-α, and interleukin-1β in the hippocampus and spinal cord in the model + MSTRG.81401 shRNA group. Simultaneously, MSTRG.81401 shRNA administration downregulated phosphorylation of ERK1/2 in the hippocampus and spinal cord. Thus, lncRNA MSTRG.81401 shRNA can alleviate DNP and MDD-like behaviors in type 2 diabetic rats and may downregulate the expression of P2X4 receptors in the hippocampus and spinal cord of rats.

Superconducting quantum computing is currently one of the most promising platforms for universal quantum information processing. The readout resonator is an essential integral part of a superconducting qubit, while its size is much larger compared to the Josephson junction. We propose and realize a new readout resonator using space-filling curves, specifically Hilbert space-filling curves. We introduce the frequency analysis method and demonstrate a qubit sample, in which the Hilbert-space-filling-curves resonator (HSFCR) is used to read out the qubit states. We also propose to fabricate the HSFCRs and Josephson junctions simultaneously in the same processes of E-beam lithography and E-beam evaporation. Our design reduces the resonator area sufficiently and, thus, will help to improve the integration of superconducting qubits, as well as to design other superconducting quantum devices.

The TNNC2 gene encodes the fast-skeletal C subunit of the troponin complex that plays a vital role in the regulation of striated muscle contraction and could be a candidate gene for pork quality. Here, we identified coupled insertion/deletion (indel) variants, a 17-bp insertion and an 11-bp deletion, in porcine TNNC2. The coupled indel variants provide an alternative splicing donor site and cause a 42-bp truncation in the first exon of TNNC2-201, leading to increased expression of TNNC2-201. Polymorphism of the two indel variants is associated with the average backfat thickness (p = 3.16 × 10

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with nucleophosmin 1 (NPM1) mutations exhibits distinct biological and clinical features, accounting for approximately one-third of AML. Recently, the

In this paper, we study a model for the flow of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which can reduce for flows with no azimuthal variations to a two-point boundary-value problem for a second-order o...

Sandwich core materials that offer superior mechanical properties at minimum weight are essential in designing high-performance sandwich structures. Hierarchical materials are ideal templates for this purpose. In this paper, we investigate the mechanical performance of a pyramidal–pyramidal hierarchical lattice material to highlight its potential as the core material for sandwich structures. Three-dimensional failure mechanism maps for the pyramidal–pyramidal hierarchical lattice material are developed under different loading conditions and the results are compared to finite element simulations. Next, we study the mechanical response and failure modes of a sandwich panel with self-similar pyramidal lattice core construction subjected to in-plane compression and three-point bending. The current study indicates that the pyramidal–pyramidal hierarchical configuration can improve the load bearing capacity and core buckling resistance of the sandwich structures at low density. The study provides insights into the role of structural hierarchy in tuning the mechanical response of the lattice materials and expands the application envelope of lightweight sandwich structures by effectively increasing the structural buckling resistance.

In 2019 there was an outbreak of respiratory illnesses amongst people who used E-cigarettes. This phenomenon was labeled 'EVALI' which stands for "Electronic cigarette (E-cigarette), or Vaping, Product Use-Associated Lung Injury" and is a life-threatening illness of the lungs associated with E-cigarette use. It is believed to be caused by certain chemicals in E-cigarette cartridges, such as vitamin E acetate, but the exact pathophysiological mechanism is yet to be elucidated. Since 2019, the CDC has recorded over 2800 cases in the United States with over 60 deaths. Though many people recover from EVALI, the long-term implications on pulmonary health are unknown. The purpose of this retrospective study was to demonstrate the pulmonary function test (PFT) findings in a group of patients who recovered from a diagnosis of EVALI. We reviewed the cases of 23 adult patients who presented to two major academic hospitals of the Northwell Health System with confirmed EVALI and followed up in our outpatient clinics with PFTs. Most patients had significantly reduced diffusion capacity (DLCO) demonstrating loss of functioning alveolar units. Given that average follow-up was over a month after discharge, this leads us to believe that EVALI can lead to persistent lung damage. However, further follow-up would be necessary to identify the full impact of E-cigarette use on the pulmonary function.

Recycling of drinking water treatment residuals (DWTRs) in aquatic environment remediation can provide numerous benefits. The hazardous effect of DWTR metals on the environment is shown to be limited; however, DWTR may release excessive nitrogen and organic matter, hindering recycling in the aquatic environment. To eliminate any potential unfavorable effect, self-purification via intermittent aeration incubation for DWTRs was developed. Results indicated that after approximately 5–6 months of incubation, the easily released nitrogen and organic matter in the DWTRs were mostly removed. The removed nitrogen was found to mainly consist of ammonium nitrogen from inorganic and organic nitrogen groups in the DWTRs. The removed organic matter consisted mainly of humic-like substances associated with the carboxyl group, distributed on the surface of the DWTRs. Biological mechanisms for effective nitrogen and organic matter removal were further explored based on the analysis of bacterial community structure, which indicated that the dominant bacteria genera (e.g., Geothrix, Methylotenera, and Geobacter) in the DWTRs after incubation were closely related to nitrogen and carbon cycles. In addition, the phosphorus adsorption of the DWTRs after incubation was maintained, and the specific surface area, total pore volume, microporosity, and mesoporosity of the DWTRs after incubation tended to increase because of organic matter removal. Accordingly, intermittent aeration not only addressed the concerns caused by potential excessive release of nutrients from DWTRs but also enhanced the favorable effect of DWTRs on biogeochemical cycles. Self-purification can potentially promote the beneficial recycling of DWTRs in the aquatic environment.

We present a fishbone-like lumped-element artificial transmission line to overcome impedance mismatch in a reflection-type Josephson parametric amplifier between a nonlinear resonator and an external transmission line. Using this easily prepared architecture, we design and fabricate a broadband Josephson parametric amplifier, which has gain in an excess of 20 dB with a bandwidth of hundreds of MHz. Furthermore, by varying the working point of the device, the operating frequency of amplification can be tuned in a wide frequency range of 1 GHz while the amplifier operates in the mode of either three-wave mixing or four-wave mixing. Such a parametric amplifier is suitable for engineering applications of superconducting circuit quantum electrodynamics.

The weakest link in traditional sandwich beams constructed of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) honeycomb core is arguably the bonded face sheet-core interface. This has limited the development and the expanded application of these sandwich structures. To overcome this, in this paper, a type of interface-reinforced honeycomb core is proposed to improve the bonding by enlarging the bonding area and thus increasing the strength of the face sheet-to-core attachment. A modified tailor-folding method is employed to fabricate two designs of the interface-reinforced honeycomb. The two interfaces reinforced cores are identical, except for the presence of machined holes in the strengthened fillet created to accommodate adhesive fillets formed during bonding. Double cantilever beam (DCB) test is performed to compare the bonding and behavior of the beams, which are tested alongside beams of a traditional honeycomb that is used as a control sample. In addition, the influences of cell wall thickness and loading direction with respect to the orientation of core macrostructures are also investigated. Modified Beam Theory (MBT) and Elastic Foundation Model (EFM) are employed to calculate the critical strain energy release rate. Overall, the interfaced-reinforced cores performed much better than the traditional core, with the former and latter being stronger in the transverse and longitudinal directions, respectively. The various failure modes observed from the test are analyzed and used to illustrate the strengthening mechanics operating in the interface-reinforced honeycomb.

In this paper, three-dimensional failure mechanism maps are developed to investigate the in-plane compressive characteristics of all-composite honeycomb sandwich columns and optimize their load-weight efficiency. Analytical models are derived based on five possible failure modes, including shear macro-buckling, intracellular dimpling, face wrinkling, face fracture and debonding. The dominant failure mode can be determined by three dimensionless geometrical parameters, i.e., the length-height ratio of the sandwich column, the height ratio of face and core, and the relative density of honeycomb core. A series of three-dimensional failure mechanism maps are constructed based on the fiber orientations in the face sheet and honeycomb core. It is observed that failure mode transforms with dimensionless geometrical parameters in a spatial region. A typical three-dimensional failure mechanism map is experimentally validated. Sectional views in different directions are used to locate the boundaries of failure modes. All-composite honeycomb sandwich columns are designed and fabricated using the tailor-folding method. In-plane compressive experiments are carried out to verify the analytical models and three-dimensional failure mechanism map. The experimental results agree well with analytical predictions. Optimal geometrical design is performed to obtain the geometrical relations of honeycomb sandwich columns with the highest load-weight efficiency under in-plane compression. The novelty of this work lies in broadening the failure mechanism map to spatial region and optimal geometrical design.

This paper introduces a new methodology for generating three-dimensional (3D) negative Poisson’s ratio behavior with lattice representations of the rotating rigid mechanism as a starting point. Based on it, a class of new 3D auxetic lattice structures is proposed. The elastic properties of a representative 3D auxetic lattice structure, including the homogenized Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio along the three principal axes, are systematically investigated in a combination of analytical predictions, numerical simulations and experimental tests. Moreover, effects of the structural geometrical parameters and specimen size on the elastic properties as well as structural nonlinear mechanical responses along the principal axes are carefully discussed. Different from most traditional 3D auxetic materials that are only capable of achieving negative or positive Poisson's ratio, our results suggest that the homogenized Poisson’s ratio effect of the proposed 3D lattice structure along all principal axes can be tuned from positive to negative in a wide range. The excellent design flexibility would help to expand and hasten the adoption of the new 3D auxetic lattice structures in engineering applications.

Mechanical properties and failure mechanisms of sandwich panels with “corrugated-pyramidal” hierarchical lattice cores were investigated through analytical modeling and detailed numerical simulations. This included studying the behavior of hierarchical lattice core material under compression and shearing, as well as investigating the mechanical performance of sandwich panels subjected to in-plane compression and three-point bending. Failure maps were constructed for the hierarchical lattice cores, as well as sandwich panels with hierarchical lattice cores by deriving analytical closed-form expressions for strength for all possible failure modes under each loading. 3D printed samples were manufactured and tested under out-of-plane compression in order to provide limited experimental validation of the study. Our study provides insights into the role of structural hierarchy in tuning the mechanical behavior of sandwich structures, and new opportunities for designing ultra-lightweight lattice cores with optimal performance.

Being light, cheap, breathable and foldable, paper is emerging as a new type of substrate for flexible thermoelectric films. Several techniques including soaking and magnetron sputtering have been developed to coat inorganic semiconductors onto paper substrate, but the flexibility and thermoelectric performance of the resulting films are still far from satisfactory. This work implements a novel glass-fiber-aided cold-press method for achieving flexible n-type Ag2Te nanowire (NW) films on copy-paper substrate. A greatly enhanced electrical conductivity has been realized in Ag2Te NWs film due to the disappearance of grain boundaries under compression to 30 MPa. As a consequence, the largest power factor (PF) value of up to 192 μW (mK2)−1 at 195 °C surpasses the performance of paper based thermoelectric films reported previously. Moreover, the PF value only decreases by 20% after 500 bending cycles, suggesting the good flexibility of the copy-paper supported Ag2Te NWs films. A thermoelectric module containing 10 pieces of series-connected Ag2Te films is fabricated using this glass-fiber-aided cold-press method. With ΔT increasing from 20 K to 80 K, the open-circuit voltage of module continually increases from about 11 mV to 60 mV. This measurement of open-circuit voltage has been repeated 10 times to confirm the stability of paper-supported Ag2Te thermoelectric module. The glass-fiber-aided cold-press method in this study provides an effective access to high-performance, flexible and solvent-processable inorganic thermoelectric films on copy-paper substrate.

The bending characteristics of all-composite honeycomb sandwich beams were investigated by a three-dimensional failure mechanism map and verified by three-point bending tests. In this paper, analytical models were used to predict the three-point bending stiffness, failure load and failure modes of all-composite hexagon honeycomb sandwich beams. A three-dimensional failure mechanism map was generated to characterize the dominant failure mechanism based upon failure load criteria for shear buckling, shear fracture, debonding, intracellular dimpling and face fracture. The tailor-folding method was used to fabricate the all-composite honeycomb sandwich beams. To verify the analytical models and three-dimensional failure mechanism map, three-point bending tests were carried out on the sandwich beams with different core relative densities, face thicknesses and loading spans. It was observed that the analytical predictions were in good agreement with the experimental results. A single case with the supreme load-weight ratio on the failure mechanism map has been identified and verified. Besides, the paths of maximum load design for a series of geometrical parameters were also traced. The study provides insights into the role of the physical dimension in tuning the flexural property of the sandwich structure and expands the application envelope of the failure mechanism map by effectively increasing the structural analytical dimensionality.

In this paper, considering a supply chain subject to stochastic demand, we present a newsvendor model to study the game process between a supplier owning private cost information and a retailer suffering from inventory inaccuracy problem. We present that by setting the contract parameters appropriately, both partners have the right incentive for maximizing the total supply chain profit: the supplier share information actively by choosing the contract designed for his marginal production cost, while the retailer׳s rational decision concurs with the overall optimal decision. We further study the supply chain performance and the interval of the coordinating contract parameters under different situations by illustrating the model through some numerical assumptions, establishing and highlighting the conditions under which the RFID technology is preferable to the system.

Protein function originates from a cooperation of structural rigidity, dynamics at different timescales, and allostery. However, how these three pillars of protein function are integrated is still only poorly understood. Here we show how these pillars are connected in Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase 1B (PTP1B), a drug target for diabetes and cancer that catalyzes the dephosphorylation of numerous substrates in essential signaling pathways. By combining new experimental and computational data on WT-PTP1B and ≥10 PTP1B variants in multiple states, we discovered a fundamental and evolutionarily conserved CH/π switch that is critical for positioning the catalytically important WPD loop. Furthermore, our data show that PTP1B uses conformational and dynamic allostery to regulate its activity. This shows that both conformational rigidity and dynamics are essential for controlling protein activity. This connection between rigidity and dynamics at different timescales is likely a hallmark of all enzyme function.